My first by was a yamaha sr 250 special with 20 hp. unforunetly I sold it after that I passed my driving liecense and thereby I don't have any experince in longdistance riding with it. Today I regret selling it.

As fare as I can recall it should be possible to have a average speed of 70-80 km/h right?

I bought a Yamaha XTZ125 about a year ago to use as a commuter bike around town. The guy I bought it from is a 125 freak, he loves 125's and does all kinds of cross country (we live in Mexico) touring on 125's.

He's always asking me to come along, but our timing doesn't usually coincide. As far as I can tell, he just sticks to backroads and travels as light as he can.

He does big trips that go many thousands of kilometers and he loves it.

I guess it depends on the speed limits and the amounts of traffic where you would be riding.
Some roads have a 75 or 80 mph limit, and some have a 250cc and up limitation.
Mountains and had winds are no fun.

My first motorcycle was a '92 250 Nighthawk. I put 11,500 miles on it before I sold it. In that time, I only had to replace the back tire, chain and the headlight. It was my daily commuter while stationed at Ft. Hood Texas and easily got 65+mpg.

I rode the bike straight through from Ft Hood to Tifton Georgia in a little over 21 hours as I remember it. That particular bike was well insulated for the operator. (not pass) I had a medium ruck cross-strapped to the tank, a garment bag and a small gym bag bungied to the back seat. I rode laying on the ruck and it was an easy ride. ofcourse I was 22 at the time.

I was always comfortable on the bike and it worked flawlessly.

My wife currently has a 2007 GZ250. I have richened the mixture a little and added a +1 front sprocket. Before, the sprocket change, the bike always was real buzzy. with the lean mix, it returned a little over 70mpg (with E10 fuel). as it is now, the lower gears are for more than idling at a walking pace, accelerates well, will cruise at 65 without too much buzz and still returns over 60mpg. it has a small windscreen and medium saddle bags as well.

as it stands with my experience with the two 250's.... i'd be comfortable on one of them. i dont think i'd say the same for a 125 though.... but thats just me.

In the U.S. you need at least 150cc if you are going to get anywhere. 250cc would be better. I put 20,000 miles on a 234cc Honda Rebel, over half of it on the freeway at full throttle. Supposedly that bike will last around 80,000 miles at full throttle (good old fashioned technology, small but built like a tank) But the big issue here is one of legality. I rode 22 miles on a freeway with my Yamaha Zuma 125, 11 on the way there, and 11 on the way back. Those 22 miles were scary, not so much because I was afraid of getting run over, but because I was afraid of getting busted by the cops. We have a 150cc minimum displacement law to ride on freeways here, even for a short distance, and it is almost impossible to get across the country without getting on a freeway at least once in a while.

I suppose it depends on where and how you ride, but even though I do appreciate small, light weight bikes, I just can't see the point of a 125 on the road once you get out of the urban environment. The disadvantages outweigh any advantages that I can see. Something like a TW200 or XT 225 perhaps, but that would be my lower personal limit. And even then, it would only be for rural backroad exploring.

I wish I could find the GREAT cross country ride report a kid did last year here in the ride report section. He fixed up and rode a Honda 50 from California to NYC. It really was a good report and the kid saw so much more than the Ironbutt guys do. Hopefully someone else looking at this thread can find it for you. It CAN be done.

There's a guy (Bob Munden) from Winsor, Ontario Canada who has Ridden a Honda CBR125R all the way from Key West, Florida to Alaska and back! If he can do this in North America then touring on a 125cc is certainly do-able in Europe.

BTW, I am very familiar with the CBR125R and these little Bikes are essentially bullet-proof ...